British Airways strike | Walkout scheduled in one week

British Airways flight attendants are planning to walk out next week. Image from Flickr.

Though negotiations have been ongoing, the labor union of British Airways employees has scheduled a British Airways strike to begin next week. The union is asking for more concessions on air travel perks and employment. British Airways is asking for the union to accept cost-cutting measures. Either way, British Airways will need cash advance loans to survive the British Airways strike.

British Airways strike plans

The current plan for the British Airways strike is a 20-day strike, split into four 5-day chunks. The British Airways strike has been announced seven days before the first planned walkout. The strike will include “cabin attendants” and will ground many British Airways flights. The current dates for the British Airways strike are May 18 to May 22, May 24 to May 28, May 30 to June 3, and June 5 to June 9. This walkout will snarl air traffic in Europe, in addition to continuing problems with the Icelandic ash cloud.

At issue with the British Airways strike

The latest round of negotiations that have led to the British Airways strike stem from cost-cutting measures instigated last year. Last March, British Airways strikes cost the airline about 45 million pounds. British Airways fired several employees because of those strikes and withdrew free travel perks. The employees are asking for these free travel perks to be reinstated. Additionally, the union is requesting that all employees who were fired as a result of the March strike be reinstated.

British Airways attempting to keep service open

Though the planned British Airways strike will ground much of BA’s air service, the airline is attempting to keep services running. British Airways is going to be hiring private plains as well as booking with other airlines to maintain services as much as possible. Each seven days of service stoppage leads to about $67 million worth of losses for the airline. BA is on track to record more than 800 million pounds for this year. However, pay freezes, staffing levels and other cost-cutting measures are still at issue with BA and their employee union.